The head of Wagner Group died in a “plane crash.” Everyone saw this coming after the June 2023 march on Moscow, we just didn’t expect him to last this long. The Russian government scrambled war planes against the Wagner insurgency which were, reportedly, shot down. A Private Military Company (PMC) moved to take over a sovereign state. Twitter was aflutter with comparisons of Wagner Group and Blackwater.
As a former Blackwater contractor, I was inundated with comparisons of Wagner Group and Blackwater. There are vast differences between how the US and Russia deploy PMCs.
Differences: Kinetic Operations
I joined Blackwater in June 2004 under a US State Department contract. Our mission was to move “principals” and Other Government Agencies (OGA) personnel from point A to point B in the Iraq combat zone under the auspices of doing protective missions. We weren’t kinetic. Blackwater only held territory when attacked. In April 2004, an Iraqi militia attacked a Coalition Provisional Authority principal and were repelled by US military and Blackwater employees. Once the battle was over, Blackwater evacuated. Aside from Little-Bird helicopter support and armored vehicles, Blackwater didn’t have the same matériel as US military forces.
In contrast, Wagner Group is an Army tasked with kinetic / offensive missions. They are equipped and deployed to take ground, hold it, and move to a new objective. This includes tanks, aircraft, mines, and equipment not available outside of what US PMCs are issued. This allows them to perform “movement to contact” where a force moves to find an enemy, destroy it, and hold the area. Wagner’s a mercenary force tasked with conventional military operations, but outside the Rules of Engagement defined by the Geneva Convention.
After the death of Prigozhin, Wagner will be consumed by the Russian government as a fighting force with Putin in control while retaining the moniker of being a PMC.
Similarities: Lack of Defined Rules of Engagement
PMCs don’t operate under the Four Principles of the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC). The first is “distinction” where a military must distinguish between a military target and the civilian population. This is done through uniform identification. I had no uniform with Blackwater. I wore a t-shirt, 5.11 pants, and body armor while rolling the streets of Baghdad in a Hummer. Could an Iraqi civilian differentiate me from a military target? I doubt it.
To be fair, the “enemy” didn’t abide by “distinction.” The US military and PMCs never knew who was friendly, so they treated everyone as a potential enemy. Looking back, hearing the population of Ramadi felt PMCs were “terrorists” feels like how we felt about the non-distinct combatants we encountered.
I never knew what laws governed my actions. The military has the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). I didn’t fall under that. As a civilian in combat, I didn’t fall under the nascent Iraqi government laws. Working in a combat zone, I was told I had diplomatic immunity — no laws applied. A drunk Blackwater employee killed an Iraqi security guard in 2006 and was whisked out of Baghdad, fired, and never prosecuted. We felt outside the law.
Wagner has a different paradigm. They’re an army with uniforms under the semi-control of the Russian Defense Minister tasked with waging war under the auspices they are immune from LOAC. This is the definition of a mercenary — the ability to wage conflict on behalf of a nation with no rules of engagement. They aren’t worried about what laws apply to them because they’re commanded to wage conventional war by a government.
Leadership: A Cult of Personality
The leader of Wagner Group had his mercenary’s devotion. They heeded his orders to march on Moscow, shot down Russian military jets, and threaten to overthrow the government. That shows a loyalty to the Wagner Group above the Russian government. In return, he was assassinated, and Wagner threatened repercussions.
We gathered in a hangar at Landing Zone (LZ) Washington in December 2004, not knowing why. Erik Prince, the man, the myth, the legend walked out and began a jeremiad of how essential we were to the war effort. As a 24-year-old mercenary, I felt amazing until the percussion of a car bomb hit the West gate of the Green Zone and shrapnel rained down on the hanger roof. Erik’s bodyguards surrounded him and whisked him to safety. We stood tall. This was a normal day in Baghdad.
Blackwater employees were loyal to the US government over our fearful leader. Each year Erik Prince shows up to a Blackwater reunion spouting how he’s going to bring Blackwater back as a PMC and the geriatric masses cheer while raising their walkers and oxygen tanks. He’s a folk hero, but could never lead a revolt.
PMC’s in Combat: A Slippery Slope
Blackwater as a PMC is dead, but its vestiges live on. It was created because a government went into combat without a thought of how to rebuild the nation of Iraq. Blackwater filled a void because the US State Department didn’t have adequate personnel to protect diplomats in an active combat zone. That failure led to contracts employing people like me — those willing to risk their lives for the money and adventure — to sign up.
PMCs operate in Syria, Ukraine, and the US / Mexico border doing missions the US government doesn’t want to have their name attached to. They’re put in harm’s way under the auspices of training local forces This allows the government to put distance between their policies and the people (mercenaries) they use to enforce them. PMCs are a shell company for the US government.
This creates a gray area of what laws PMC’s fall under and, if unchecked, could continue until a mercenary army is more loyal to a leader than its government. PMCs must be regulated before we unconsciously create a Wagner Group domestically.
Morgan Lerette was a Blackwater employee for 18 months between 2004–2005
